How to Stop Measuring Your Students

The workshop audience, filled with K-12 teachers and administrators, loved the idea of narrative feedback. “I think we all agree that this is good for kids,” one participant said, “but how do we measure achievement?”

This is a common question, brought on in most cases by parental demands, college admissions officers and a political quest to win a mythical global education competition.

How do we measure achievement? Don’t!

Although answering the how-do-we-measure-achievement question with a simple, We don’t, may seem glib, it’s a mindset that teachers need to embrace, if we’re going to win the war on punitive grades.

The picture above is as misleading as any graphic can be. The numbers say nothing about learning, because we don’t know how these students are being evaluated, although it is definitely with some kind of standardized test.

One must wonder what factors contribute to some groups being at the bottom of the graph. Might it be that a student who is hungry can’t concentrate on a test? Is it possible that others come from crime-ridden neighborhoods, and concern over their own safety far outweighs the questions on a multiple-choice test?

Evaluation should always be done with feedback

So, stop measuring. If your school mandates high stakes tests throughout the year, ignore all other testing until those tests arrive. Stop grading papers, projects and participation.

When someone says, “How do you measure achievement?” Tell them you don’t. Explain that students provide work product based on mini lessons; you observe constantly, and discuss what is learned and what is not.

Ask students, perched conspicuously at the bottom of the graph above, what they have learned, instead of handing them a paper-and-pencil test. You’ll be amazed by their answers.